Amaryllis belladonna

I've been reading for many years now the ideas that people have had
about what makes these bulbs bloom. I live in an area where they are
planted everywhere and every year there is a good show. This year
seems even better than usual as when I'm out hiking I have seen a lot
of them blooming. My observations lead me to believe that it is good
light that makes the biggest difference as they often bloom in areas
that get no summer water at all. This year we had our last good
rains in April and only tiny amounts in May and only fog since then
and in July they started appearing and have continued to do so since
then. My other observation has been that even though first shoots may
start in July, new shoots within miles of the same area will continue
to appear for many months. My garden is shady and I planted them in a
number of spots before I realized that they would need more light.
Most of my plants never bloom, but there are a couple that bloom
about this time in a more open area and some others that bloom in
September or October in another area of my garden. I've been
wondering if individual plants have their own timing depending on
their parentage. Some of my plants were ones that were dug from Les
Hanibal's garden and shared so are hybrids.
To my surprise, this year I have three others that are going to
bloom. We are in a rather severe drought and two of them might have
been shaded a bit by a very large Leucospermum shrub that died and
was removed. I'm not sure about why the other is blooming. It bloomed
a couple of times maybe fifteen years ago. Besides the ground being
even dryer than usual we've had a cooler than usual summer. At least
it seems that way as we have had more fog that we sometimes do. It's
welcome as fire danger is high. So at least here in northern
California south of where Kathleen lives, the bulbs are not behaving
according to the theory that they bloom earlier with a warm summer
and that they bloom better with some summer water.
Mary Sue